Games Without Frontiers

Styles of Play

Black Dog Dérive is a modest affair but one nonetheless that requires some decisions to be made. I come from a dim, dark and mythical past in which players of a roleplaying game were left to make their own choices about how to play but this approach now seems to be regarded as some kind of oversight – and perhaps rightly so.

Playtests have allowed me to refine the guidance down to three modes: Old School, Story First and New Wave. That I do not see these styles of play as politically opposed or mutually exclusive is half the reason I’ve written the scenario – but, you know, that’s up to the people playing.

It will probably be a booklet of 30 pages or so. I may print it out as a fanzine or I may just make it freely available as a PDF: it’s been a difficult year money-wise and health-wise and I may have to settle for what I can make happen. Really, I just want it out there as an option for those playing Ville Vuorela’s wonderful STALKER: The SciFi Roleplaying Game. I’ll contact Ville when the first draft is done – the end is in sight now – and see what he thinks is appropriate.